Brass looks as if to shrug off the hoof, then sighs. "Its not that I don't think they can step up when the cards come down. Its that out here they need to step up even when things seem safe. There are eyes everywhere out here stories about ponies knocking one another out and then dragging each other across a crowded inn travel far. If something happened to the first team, I don't want that happening again to us."

* * *

Nightingale sniffs as she frowns at the beds. "Its nothing, I'm fine." She moves over and lays down as far away from the others as she can. "Its just Brass Belle being his insufferable self."

"Go easy on her!?" Brass looked offended. "Hey who got hit in the face here! Just because she's a war hero's brat and I'm not from Equestria doesn't mean that I am automatically in the wrong here!"

* * *

Nightingale curled up and pulled a blanket over her head. The nocturnal pony was not unused to breaking her instinctual desire to sleep most of the day way and spend her nights working and playing, but something about the way the blanket rose and fell seemed to imply the she had not simply drifted off.

Glade looked uncomfortable as he said, "Maybe we should sleep on this. I think everyponies emotions are running pretty high right now and it might be best to try and work this out on a full nights sleep?"

"Wait you think Nightingale has a crush on you?" Brass Belle grins. "Oh that's to rich! She's trying to play tough to to show how much she respects your family!" He flops back on the bed. "That's just too much. Well I guess I never figured this trip would be boring..."

Glade stepped back into to the room. "I think we might still have a problem." He muttered.

* * *

Nightingale put up a valiant effort to ignore the crying, but the way she curled tighter and tighter into her blanket made her discomfort abundantly clear, as did the muffled wipers emanating from the center of the mass.

Dart fixes Brass with a raised brow stare "ignorant to the signs of infatuation when you are the target of them.' wouldn't I be ignorant to them if I was the target?" Dart then turns to Glade "what kind of problem?"

-*- {Jack wasn't outright crying, he was lightly sobbing, just a point of clarification}

it didn't take long for Jack to calm "Thanks sis" he said laying down to go to sleep

"thats what a twin Sister is for" Tak said moving to lay back to back with him

Glade sighs. "I went over to cheek on the others and it seems like they are all still rather upset by what has happened. We may need to talk together tomorrow, though I am afraid that after that little... display before we turned in, we may not want to spend more time here then we need to."

*Unless you have much to add you can use the next post to describe anything you do in the night and what you do upon waking in the inn. In the morning the inn's common room is largely deserted save for the Diamond Dog who is not exactly happy to see the party, but not irritated enough to ask them to leave or deny them servos.*

"I'll have to make sure Jack and Tak are ok in the morning, but the one I'm most worried about is Nightingale" Dart turns his glance to Brass "I'll leave you to contemplate my words" as he let his head slump and closed his eyes

-*-

the next morning Jack, Tak, and Dart all ask for a simple breakfast.

"Jack, are you all right." Dart said looking at Jack, his eyes full of a knowing concern "I heard from Glade that you three were upset"Jack let loose a sigh "yea, I'm just ticked off with myself"

"Don't worry yourself to much." Glade sits down next to the younger ponies, carefully setting down his plat. "You all come from grate families and you are more hardened then most ponies you would find in Equestria, but your still young and inexperienced. Wisdom is a rare trait in thous who have not lived long enough too have been though a few dozen experiences where they needed it."

"Well lookie here!" Brass flashes the twins a grin as he joins the table. "A wise-mare and a guards stallion! We lucked out when we got you assigned you Hoof Tzu." The earth pony knocked the older stallions side with a hoof. The rest seemed to have done a world of good for Brass Belle as he looked and sounded far more vibrant and alive then he had before.

Nightingale shuffled in last looking puffy eyed and disheveled. She bought her food and then slowly made her way to the far end of the table, to far from the others to easy be involved in the conversation.

Brass Belles faces shifted into an expression that might have seemed concerned if not for the way his lips kept trying to curl up at the corners and the way his eyes twinkled just a little to brightly. "I think she might have had a bit of a bad night." He confided leaning in slightly. "Poor little bat must be fighting her internal clock right now to get on the rest of our sleep patterns." He gave Tak puppy dog eyes. "I think she might also need a friend to talk to. I know its not my place, but maybe a lovely mare such as yourself might be able to cheer her up?" He turned to look at Jack and Dart, his exasperation turning sly and his voice lowering to a confidential wispier. "Or maybe one of you might like to have a chance to be a stallion in shining armor, galloping in to save the poor maid in her hour of need?"

Glade put a heavy hoof on Brass Belles shoulder and shoved him back onto the bench. "Or maybe you need to cheek your caffeine intake." He growled. "I think you 'helped' the poor thing enough last night. Let's let somepony else handle it there way."

Nightingale sighed. "Ya, sure." She rolled and apple around her plate with a hoof. "I mean, I only embarrassed myself right in front of the whole inn, got us all in trouble and hit a comrade in the face, but apart from that I am just..." She let the apple roll to a stop before sighing aging, this time sounding annoyed. "Grate."

"Taking a stand for your beliefs is not something to beat your self up over" Tak said with pride "as my father says 'if you don't stand for your beliefs, none will" she stated levitating the apple back to Nightingale with a smile

"But, I didn't stand up for my beliefs." Nightingale looks forlorn. "I hit Brass because he insulted me and because he got under my skin." She looks at Tak pleadingly. "I was raised to put the good of others ahead of myself, but instead I betrayed that made things worse for everypony just because that jerk teased me! What do you think that says about me? That I can't even take a jab without losing my tempter?"

Tak puts her hoof around Nightingale "even the best lose their temper when Family honor is involved" Tak giggled a little "one of my dad's friends, Applejack's brother, Macintosh he has a temper he might not show it much but if you threaten his family 'watch out"

Nighten Gale smiles a little. "Thanks. My family is kinda... hard. We don't let each other get away with much because we know that other ponies will not help us if we can't help ourselves. Normally that's not relay an issue, but after talking to me dad... and then getting my personal troubles rubbed in my face, I just sorta lost it. Back home that would have lead to allot of shouting and probably some kinda of punishment, but your not like that." She looks at Tak and her smile widens a bit more. "Your nice without worrying about how that makes you look to others. Your brother too, even if he acts like a bit of a dork sometimes."

She blushes slightly. "Sorry, I don't mean anything by that."

* * *

"Your sister seems to have a bit of a way with ponies." Brass remarks looking down the table at the mares. "Nightingale looks almost 90% less likely to brake down sobbing or kick somepony in the face."